BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 3. The British Embassy in Baku and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) hosted the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF) and the British Standards Institution (BSI) to deliver carbon accounting training to Azerbaijani banking organisations, Trend reports.
The four-day event will focus on enhancing the capacity of the banking sector to develop carbon accounting strategies for financed emissions using international standards. Financed emissions are the carbon footprint associated with the financing of equity, debt, or other financial instruments.
"The adoption of carbon accounting standards by financial institutions can help strengthen their sustainability and global competitiveness. There are opportunities for Azerbaijani banks in green finance and contributing to the greening of Azerbaijan’s economy across all sectors," said Ulkar Safaraliyeva, Regional Programme Lead, at the British Embassy Baku.
"We are delighted to collaborate with our UK partners on this training initiative, which complements the Central Bank of Azerbaijan’s efforts to drive the green transition in the country and supports our commitments at COP29 to advance the global sustainable finance agenda," stated Rustam Tahirov, Director of the Financial Sector Sustainable Development at the CBA.
"Azerbaijan is in an advantageous position to demonstrate that hydrocarbon economies can contribute to the global transition agenda. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan has been instrumental to harmonising international approaches to sustainable finance, as demonstrated at COP29. PCAF is here to support those efforts. We are delighted to be working with CBA and Azerbaijani financial institutions to raise awareness of global carbon accounting standards and to help facilitate their adoption in Azerbaijan," remarked Phillip Schauer, Technical Assistance Lead at PCAF.
"Organisations like BSI and PCAF are helping set the global benchmark for sustainability reporting. Our international carbon accounting standards have contributed to making the UK an international green finance hub. We are excited to partner with the British Embassy in Baku, CBA, and PCAF to share our experience with Azerbaijani financial institutions and to support them on their transition finance and sustainability journeys," said Volodymyr Yakubov, International Development Director, BSI.